she's worse

6

The next day, I was woken early and a guard I had never met before snuck me out through the back to a motel five minutes away.

Everything I had asked for was there.

Money doesn't buy you happiness, but it makes life easy. I wouldn't care for happiness if I could breeze through life.

I took a long shower.

I washed my hair, scrubbing all the dirt and oil out, and cleaned my body with a floral body wash. I preferred a more classy scent, but Thalia would wear this. I guess.

I shaved everywhere I needed to, and the chilling feeling of the coolish water hitting my newly soft skin was incomparable.

The shower was so refreshing and very much needed. I felt alive. The dirt from the dungeon probably polluted my lungs and took a food twenty years off my life. I stepped out and looking into the mirror.

I had lost my toned body, which I was not going to allow. I had worked hard for my figure, and I need the gym. It had been so long since I had gone to the gym or trained, and I craved the accomplished feeling of the sweat trickling down my temple.

I put the dress on and had the guard help me zip it up.

It was a large ball gown with peachy champagne tulle and a sleeveless bedazzled top with a plunging v neck. It was a heavy dress, and not really my type, but it was Thalia's type. It was a beautiful dress, not something I'd normally go for, but it still made me feel craved.

I put my hair in a half up and down after curling it and tied it with a silky peach ribbon. I hissed as the cold metal of the mask touched my skin, as I hid the thin strap under my ponytail. The shade of my mask matched the silver bedazzle on my large gown.

I kept my makeup light and sweet, with a nude, glossy lip and extra blush for the places it could be seen.

After three hours, I was ready.

I looked at myself in the mirror and took a deep breath, trying not to cringe. I had to get used to this soft, innocent, lucent look.

I heard a knock on the door.

"Still here!" I called out. He would knock every few minutes to make sure I responded.

I opened the door and he saw me.

"You are my cousin Thalia Sage, I am Aiden Sage, and if anyone asks, your brother Cormac is doing very well. Your parents let you on vacation, so you are living with mine for sometime, who are doing very well. Your brother is studying abroad for his PhD. Understood?" his voice was sharp and cold, showing he took his job very seriously. I'd be more scared of him than Sorin.

"And if they ask, about for the reason for my visit? Or if I am seeing anyone?" I asked.

"You are visiting me because fall is beautiful here this time of year. You are seeing no one, you are free to do as you please." He nodded before adding. "But be careful. Thalia doesn't do too much. She's a bit more reserved.

"Thank you," I told him. He held his arm up, elbow pointed out, and I put my hand around it.

We blended in with the crowd arriving at the manor.

I wasn't able to recognize almost anyone with their masks, and as much as I was frustrated by it, it meant that my face was not memorable.

We walked in through the side entrance; the entrance leading to large ball room with Baroque styled architecture. The floor was empty as the orchestra had not yet started. People were just socializing before the music started, which would be soon.